Goodbye
by BabyGlambert89
Summary: My take on what should have happened at the end of 3x22 'Graduation Day Part 2'.Angel's farewell to Buffy.Don't know if I captured his style correctly,you'll have to let me know!lol Anyway,enough said!Enjoy and please review!If it is liked,more will come


"Goodbye"

"_**Goodbye"**_

Buffy returns home after having prevented the Ascension of Mayor Wilkins III and sending her friends to bed pretty much exhausted emotionally as well as physically. She took weary steps towards the door and pulled out her keys from her red leather jacket and placed them in the lock. It turned with a soft 'click' noise and she found herself alone in the dark house which was perfectly natural since her mother had consented to her plea to leave Sunnydale and stay in a motel an hour's drive from the town.

She went tiredly up the stairs, her limps aching from the previous hours of fighting and her heart heavy like a stone with grief over losing the one thing she cared for most in the world apart from Giles, her mother and her friends. Just after the battle ended, she had just talked to Giles when she turned and saw him; Angel was standing amongst the ambulances and the fire department cars wearing black as usual. He was looking at her; he didn't say anything but his eyes…Buffy couldn't believe she had accused him of not having a heart and didn't realize how terribly wrong she was until that moment. His eyes were the most expressive she had ever seen them; she almost couldn't bear the sadness she saw there, the suffering, the need, the _love_. His brown eyes were full of tears that he wouldn't let fall, not in front of her but they still said **so much**. Then he slowly turned and started walking away, not looking back and, in a matter of seconds, he was gone in the smoke.

Eventually, Buffy reached her bedroom door. She got in and slowly changed to her pajamas without turning on a light and snuggled into bed. It was when she opened her bedpost lamp that she saw it; on her pillow laid a small box and, under it, a folded piece of parchment. She put the box on her bedpost and paused when she saw what was written on the parchment; '_For Buffy'_

She quickly unfolded the envelope and began to read. The letter was written in black ink using a quill as far as she could tell in beautiful handwriting. It looked like a woman's but, the way some of the letters were merging together made her certain that it was a man who wrote it.She realized it was from Angel as she began to read:

_Buffy,_

_When you're reading this, I will be on the next ship out of Sunnydale. I don't know where I'm going but, even if I did, I wouldn't tell you to prevent you from seeing me off because it would only make things harder for both of us._

_You can't imagine how hard it was for me to walk away from you. A part of me is screaming even now to get off the ship and swim my way back to you, to hold you in my arms and never let you go. To share every moment with you, to protect you, to touch you, to kiss you. Since the very first moment I saw you in LA, before you embraced your destiny as a Slayer, nothing else existed for me but you. I watched you every step of the way from there to Sunnydale and helped you in any way I could._

_I tried to keep my distance from you but, as the time passed, it got harder and harder until eventually I couldn't keep myself from falling for you. I won't ever forget that rainy night; you shaking in my arms, your arms around me…That night, I surrendered myself to you, body and soul. Even when I turned, I couldn't forget you. You made me feel complete for the first time in 240 years, the only moment of happiness I will ever have and will ever know._

_The only thing I want is for you to have some kind of normal life, which I can't ever offer you no matter how much I want to. And you should have that because you deserve it; you suffered too much and it isn't over yet. You still have a lot of challenges and a lot of battles to face and a normal life is the only thing that will ever ground you and keep you sane. You deserve to be happy amidst all the danger and the evil you face every day, to get the same happiness you gave me, even for a moment. The best moment of my life._

_The only thing that is pure in me is you. When I look inside me, all I see is you. I may have left you, but you are always with me; you're in my mind, in my blood, in my bones. You have become my conscience, my only reason to live. You taught me that there is something worth fighting for and worth dying for. You have inspired me to fight evil and to resist its hold on me. And that's what I intend to do where I'm going._

_The only thing I want for you is to live a full life and to have a family of your own eventually with a good man who will love you and care for you and give you children which will give you meaning and purpose._

_I'll always be watching you and you'll be always be in my thoughts. And you're not in my heart because, when I left,I didn't take it with me.It's still with you,to warm you at night and to comfort you when you need it.And you will live forever in my dreams for me to see you and to always remember what it feels like to be whole._

_I love you.Absolutely, totally, forever.Until time itself stops and until it kills me. Remember that always._

_**Angel**_

When Buffy finished reading,she remembered the box.She picked it up from the night stand and she realized that it was a jewelry box. When she opened it, she gasped in surprise; inside was Angel's ring, the Claddagh ring he had given her on her birthday sparkling and better than new.She slipped it on her left hand;it fit perfectly,just like Angel's hand in hers.She then saw another note in which he explained that the ring was the first thing he saw after returning from the demon dimension and that she should keep it to remember him and their love.

That was when Buffy finally started crying,hot tears streaming down her face and huddled in her bed covers feeling like a knife just went through her causing her searing pain.She didn't realize as she cried,that her bedroom window was open and that a tall figure in black was walking slowly to the docks when it suddenly stopped and looked to the window illuminated by the street lights.Tears were in his eyes as he turned again and disappeared in the darkness,never to return.

**The End**


End file.
